Monday 18 July 2011

The Thing About Landraiders...

Big targets, fairly slow, expensive and limited in their weapons configuration (the chaos ones anyway).

They're also spiky, heavily armoured and usually filled with heavily armoured spiky things... and I LOVE EM!

Given the opportunity I'd quite happily field a Land Raider for all three of my heavy slots. 30 Berzekers wrapped in a blanket of steel and lascannons, not too shabby... through in a havoc launcher and a dozer blade to stop em getting stuck on rocks n stuff (and cos they look cool) and you're in business.

Unlike those silly Imperial types, us Chaos chosen don't have access to a billion different types of 'Raider, so we have to get creative. Most of our war engines date back to the Great Crusade itself, and this allows (as with most things Chaotic) A LOT of scope in terms of customisation and conversion work.

I love how Stempe over at Brush And Miniature Torture has retrofitted his Iron Warriors 'Raider with "old school" side sponsons (scratch built and bang on the money), and Hortworth's Khornate offering is simply jaw dropping!





I myself am still plodding away with my own dozer clad war machine, and hope to have it finished in the coming weeks (preferably before the new baby arrives and takes the last  of my free time from me).

What I really wanted to say in this post, is don't be limited by just what's in the box. Even for those Imperialists out there, there's still plenty of inspiration like the ones found in this Bolter and Chainsword thread. (I especially love the mini dozer blades, a rather elegant solution to the "assault ramp" problem)




So don't be content with just opening the box and gluing it together, whilst this can be great, there are greater things out there if you're willing to put in a little build time, and plenty of tutorials and simple conversions for those who aren't as accustomed to chopping up plasticard and fiddling with green stuff as others.

Remember, inspiration is just a google away.

5 comments:

  1. I'm a big fan of the Land Raider, too. I've loved the new kit since it came out, and I've proably purchased somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen over the last decade. My biggest gripe these days is that everyone and their grandma has meltaguns or rending weapons, so even if you put one in your list, it doesn't mean it will be on the tabletop for long!

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  2. What I find is always worth a giggle, is to try and include them in relatively low points games (1000-1500pts where the enemy is less likely to be packing any substantial fire power). YES they're very expensive and YES they'll use up all your points meaning you can't afford many "scoring" units meaning you'll probably loose, but hey! we don't play for the winning, just the look on your opponents face when you plonk a 14 all round tank on the table and point all it's lascannons at their HQ unit with a big ol' grin... "I love the smell of fried smurf in the morning".

    Thanks for the comments, hope you've enjoyed the read :)

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  3. Hey, two Land Raiders of mine in one post - I feel honoured.

    Thanks for your kind words anyway. I built 4 LRs so far in my Warhammer career. You might also like the one of my former Death Guard: http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee261/Stempe/005-9.jpg
    (I sold the army in the meantime and would do it otherwise now.)

    But what I really wanted to say: Land Raiders are great! They offer so much space for conversions, freehands and other extraordinary ideas.

    I'll add your blog to my blog roll. =)

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  4. Thanks Stempe.

    I've been considering a blog roll of my own as my own feed is getting bigger. Should I squeeze one in I'll be sure to add you to the top of the list :)

    ps. that death guard raider is pretty slick, loving your work

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  5. what treads are those is my question. in the first pic with the teeth

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